4.3.05
Irelandclick.com
Families hold meeting to find common ground
by Joe Nawaz
The family of a Derry man stabbed to death in the Bogside had a private meeting in the Short Strand yesterday with the family of tragic knifing victim Robert McCartney.
23-year-old James ‘Dee Dee’ McGinley was stabbed by Bartholomew Fisher in October 2003 outside Mr Fisher’s Bogside home.
Mr Fisher was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to three years imprisonment at Belfast Crown court last Friday.
The McGinley family, like the McCartneys, maintain that there has been a cover-up over the stabbing and are keen to draw parallels between the two incidents.
Mr McGinley’s mother, Eileen, echoed the sentiments of the McCartney family, saying, "We were basically told that nobody will touch him. They are a law unto themselves. They need to take a look around and see what they're doing to us.”
The meeting comes in the wake of a senior republican’s denials in Daily Ireland that there had been any cover-up or intimidation in the local community following Mr McCartney’s murder.
Gerard Davidson, who was at Magennis’s Bar on the night of Mr McCartney’s murder, denied that he was in anyway involved in the stabbing, adding that he would be happy to meet with the McCartney family so that he could tell them his version of events.
Speaking yesterday to the South Belfast News, Jim Arnold, husband of Paula McCartney, said, “I hope that our two families can learn from our shared experiences.”
The meeting between the two families was held in the McCartney family home in the Short Strand.
Journalist:: Joe Nawaz
Families hold meeting to find common ground
by Joe Nawaz
The family of a Derry man stabbed to death in the Bogside had a private meeting in the Short Strand yesterday with the family of tragic knifing victim Robert McCartney.
23-year-old James ‘Dee Dee’ McGinley was stabbed by Bartholomew Fisher in October 2003 outside Mr Fisher’s Bogside home.
Mr Fisher was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to three years imprisonment at Belfast Crown court last Friday.
The McGinley family, like the McCartneys, maintain that there has been a cover-up over the stabbing and are keen to draw parallels between the two incidents.
Mr McGinley’s mother, Eileen, echoed the sentiments of the McCartney family, saying, "We were basically told that nobody will touch him. They are a law unto themselves. They need to take a look around and see what they're doing to us.”
The meeting comes in the wake of a senior republican’s denials in Daily Ireland that there had been any cover-up or intimidation in the local community following Mr McCartney’s murder.
Gerard Davidson, who was at Magennis’s Bar on the night of Mr McCartney’s murder, denied that he was in anyway involved in the stabbing, adding that he would be happy to meet with the McCartney family so that he could tell them his version of events.
Speaking yesterday to the South Belfast News, Jim Arnold, husband of Paula McCartney, said, “I hope that our two families can learn from our shared experiences.”
The meeting between the two families was held in the McCartney family home in the Short Strand.
Journalist:: Joe Nawaz
